A late solo attack on a crash-marred trek through the rain-soaked hills of south-west Poland earned Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike) the victory and the overall lead on a shortened stage 4 of the Tour de Pologne.

Dropped by Lemmen on the large Cat.1 ascent of Karpacz, runner-up Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) then clawed his way back on a final 1.5-kilometre ramp with enough power almost to steal the show from the Dutch climber, but the Visma-Lease a Bike rider just hung on for his first-ever pro win victory by a couple of bike lengths. Third was Axel Laurance (Netcompany-Ineos), around 14 seconds back at the head of a splintering peloton.

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Breakaway riders Patryk Stosz of Team Poland, Dries De Bondt of Jayco AlUla, Tobiasz Pawlak of Team Poland and Matteo Malucelli of XDS Astana start again after the race neutralisation

Breakaway riders Patryk Stosz of Team Poland, Dries De Bondt of Jayco AlUla, Tobiasz Pawlak of Team Poland and Matteo Malucelli of XDS Astana wait for race to restart with 40.1km to go, neutralisation caused by crash in peloton behind on wet roads (Image credit: Getty Images)

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